Disambiguation from the political and social musings of Jack Altschuler

Trump

You’re 12 years old and you’re playing Monopoly with a few friends. One of them is “that guy” – the one who nearly always wins. You’ve played your best, but you’re watching your pile of cash disappear, as you land on yet another of his hotel properties. Your frustration grows and you find you have an urge to wipe everything from the board with both hands, sending houses and hotels, tokens and the Chance cards flying. Been there, done that. And we have a national case of that same frustration.

Many of us watched in horror last November when a thoroughly unqualified narcissist won the election to be President of the United States, commander of the nuclear codes. It took a while for the reality of events to fully register and the press has been chock-a-block with attempts to explain how this could have happened ever since that most fateful of days. How, indeed, could Americans have elected a schoolyard bully, a misogynist, a liar, an adulterer, a know-nothing, a destroyer of things? Last week I found a likely explanation.

I’ve written several times about the enormous impact of globalization and the profound upset it’s causing people in the industrialized world. We haven’t come close to figuring out what to do about this and not long ago it led to Brexit, a knee-jerk reaction by millions of displaced and angry Brits who responded to the uninformed, visceral calls of a braying bully. Just wipe the board. Smash what is. Vent the frustration. There’s a connection of that to what happened here last November.

Jill Filipovic provided insight in her recent essay in the New York Times. Here’s the Monopoly and Brexit connecting paragraph:

Resentful of the changing order of things, some men have simply leaned in to chaos. If the system no longer serves them, it will at least be fun to blow it all up. Which is exactly why the old rules of political engagement don’t work with Mr. Trump or his base.

There are millions of frustrated, angry Americans for whom the American Dream, the bubble idea of the way things work and will be, has burst. It’s a bit like teens who rebel when they at last learn that the world doesn’t remotely correspond to the fairy tales they were told to believe in. There is a mountainous, “IT”S NOT FAIR!” resentment and the echoes of that primal scream get reinforced every day.

There is no question whether the system is equitable; it’s not. For example, you already know about the great productivity gains of the past few decades and how nearly all of the wealth from those gains has gone to the rich, while workers have stagnated or moved downward on the economic ladder. All those globally displaced workers know it, too, and they’re living with the consequences of both globalization and economic unfairness. Little wonder they want to “wipe everything from the board with both hands, sending houses and hotels, tokens and the Chance cards flying.”

Steven Bannon may have left the White House staff, but he continues to be one of Trump’s advisors. Frighteningly, Bannon is specifically dedicated to bringing it all crashing down. Just look at what has already happened to our dramatically understaffed State Department and the other agencies of government that make this country function. We don’t have people in place to do what needs to be done.

I don’t know what Steven Bannon’s and Donald Trump’s psychological issues are, but these destroyers are incrementally wiping the board into chaos. Put some thought into what will fill the void. It’s a different game when you can’t even find the houses and hotels, the tokens and Chance cards that went flying and you probably won’t like what happens.

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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we’re on a path to continually fail to make things better. It’s my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That’s the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.

YOUR ACTION STEPS: Offer your comments below and pass this along to three people, encouraging them to subscribe and engage.Thanks!

My pal John Calia comments now and again on these posts and he recently declared me to be a far left liberal. “Not so!” I protested, and proceeded to show him a bunch of my views on issues about which the vast majority of Americans agree. For example,

We want sensible gun safety legislation.

We want big money out of our politics.

The wealthy should pay their fair share – and it’s more than they’re paying now.

We oppose privatization of Social Security.

The Earth is warming at a dramatic pace and humans are a key driver of that. We need a climate moon shot if we’re to be able to live in what are now our coastal cities.

Russia is not our friend and we must take action to protect our democracy.

Stop lying to us about “trickle-down economics.” We’ve seen this movie over and over for 40 years and we know how it ends, and it’s not well for almost all of us. Instead of the same old stupid stuff, do something that actually helps the lower 99%, like,

Pass an infrastructure bill to rebuild America.

No more unnecessary wars – and stop the ones we’re in.

There is lots more, but my notions seem to coincide with middlin’ views, methinks. John challenged me to take the quiz on the Pew Research site, so I did. Lo and behold, they say I’m a Solid Liberal, along with 15% of the American public. That’s far left, not centrist. I could look for a second opinion, but that feels more like a desperate attempt to prove I’m right, rather than just accepting reality. My friend Ozzie sensibly instructs, “Reality always wins. Our job is to get in touch with it.” Inconvenient, perhaps, but he’s right.

Annoyingly, there is a lot about our current reality that plagues us and we better get in touch with it. You know about the reality of the Trump craziness that pits Americans against one another and focuses on outrage and petty victimization, while creating roadblocks to accomplishing anything to deal with our vexing problems.

At the same time, though, Trump enjoys huge support from ordinary Americans, irrespective of his terrible job performance rating (that’s down to 36.9%). That support leads to Congressional spinelessness, Senators McCain, Corker and Flake notwithstanding. Indeed, the legislators in Congress who live in scandalously gerrymandered districts keep getting reelected in spite of our disdain for Congress (now with just a 13% approval rating). They don’t fear a challenge from the other party, but are terrified at being primaried from the right by an angry extremist candidate. That’s because we’re living in the era of Extended Middle Finger America. Indeed, as Victor Davis Hanson wrote in the National Review, ” . . . Trump is a symptom of widespread disgust . . . What created him was furor at a smug, entrenched Republican political establishment.”

Arguably, this anger at the establishment began long ago with the assassination of President Kennedy and the Warren Commission’s apparent whitewash of an investigation. It was abetted by the lies of Lyndon Johnson about the war in Vietnam and the lies and crimes of Richard Nixon and the resignation over corruption charges of his Vice-President. It surely was helped along by Bill Clinton’s – let’s call them dalliances.

Our anger was nurtured by Ronald Reagan, who told us that the 9 most feared words in America are, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” He told us that, “Government is the problem.” He repeatedly encouraged us to be angry at our government. Actually, we had some solid reasons to be angry.

When the I-35W bridge collapsed in Minneapolis we were delivered a very clear heads-up that we have infrastructure problems, yet precious little has been done in the intervening 10 years to protect the American people and ensure our solid presence in the world. In contrast, former third-world countries are modernizing at a ferocious pace, leaving us less competitive in this global economy. That’s a huge trust killer for us, just as our refusal to fix our education system and governmental infighting to prevent poor people from receiving good healthcare undercut our belief in our systems.

Gasoline was poured on the flames of anger at government by Newt Gingrich’s madness in rabidly attacking Bill Clinton on everything and shutting down the government; then George W. Bush and Dick Cheney lied us into two unnecessary wars. It was worsened by John Boehner telling us that it was all about “jobs, jobs, jobs” and yet opposing every attempt to create legislation that would encourage job growth. The furies were angered still further by a Republican Congress that was solely focused on ensuring that Obama had no wins, instead of looking out for the American people.

The worst thing, though, is the ongoing drumbeat of how awful our government is, including blatant lies by legislators and by polarized commentary by the likes of Breitbart, Rush Limbaugh and Alex Jones. That has led to a very angry citizenry. And that has led to the election of a president who is incrementally tearing down the very things that make this country work. Somehow, his supporters, otherwise good, solid folks, are so angry that they are willing to ignore Trump’s awfuls. They have and continue to be prepared to elect representatives and senators who spew vitriol.

All of that is backward looking. What will we do about it?

I don’t have the answers, but I’m confident that what is called for is inspired and inspiring leadership in a new direction. We need a Lincoln to call upon our better angels. And we need insightful ideas that are offered in inspiring ways. Who will do that?

It’s self-defeating to live in, “. . . the sublime relief of deferred responsibility, the soft, violence of willful ignorance,” as phrased by Lindy West in a marvelous piece in the New York Times. Her reference was to the normalization of the hate of the alt-right, but the phrase works well for all of our current reality.

Back to my friend, Ozzie. The companion piece to “Reality always wins” is this:

If you want to know the future, create it.

What is the future reality you want? The time to start creating it is now.

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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we’re on a path to continually fail to make things better. It’s my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That’s the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.

YOUR ACTION STEPS: Offer your comments below and pass this along to three people, encouraging them to subscribe and engage.Thanks!

Be sure to read this to the end, lest the bright, shiny objects distract your view.

Reading time – 2:47; Viewing time – 4:25 . . .

General Kelly gave a heartfelt and impassioned presentation this week, invoking the death of his son in the line of duty. And he talked about what happens to the bodies of our fallen, as they are returned home for burial with honor. (Sidenote: Watch Kevin Bacon in the movie Taking Chancehere or via your favorite online provider for a better understanding of how we honor our young men and women who have died in the line of duty.) Kelly’s presentation was all very patriotic, very heroic and astonishingly cynical.

For General Kelly to have used the sad death of his son and our empathy for the general to cover for the despicable attitude of disrespect shown by the President to a grieving widow is a profound assault on everything that smacks of decency.

I, and likely you, offer our condolences and caring to General Kelly for his profound loss. We care about him both as a father who has lost a son and a soldier who has lost one of his own. That stands, regardless of what he has done to cover for our amoral President. And it doesn’t excuse it.

General Kelly is now in the politics business. It is both our right and our duty as citizens to question what he says and does. That has become especially important now that he has formally joined the ranks of the Trump Prevaricators, an unholy club including Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, Steve Mnuchin and others for whom verifiable, obvious truth carries no meaning. Let go of your hope that General Kelly will save us from Trump’s lunacy. That just isn’t going to happen.

It’s easy to get sucked into railing about the distortions, fantastical idiocies and outright lies of Trump and his fawning servants, but it would be a terrible mistake to do that.

You’re correct in seeing all the Trump craziness as craziness, but it’s actually far worse than that. Read Tom Friedman’s piece to better understand the strategy-less operations of this White House – make that of Trump – that leads to such staggeringly inappropriate – and at times self-destructive – behavior. Note that the “self” in the self-destructive behavior is you and me and America.

Next up in your government’s screw-you game is the long awaited tax reform bill that is actually a tax cut program for the fabulously wealthy. The Senate Republicans have barely managed to jam through a tax bill and toss it over the transom to the House to start the process of creating the detail of the next enrichment program for the rich. As usual it’s presented as a boon to working people and no, the Rs would never propose a bill that would primarily benefit already wealthy people and large corporations.

Except that what we know about this new iteration of dishonesty from Paul Ryan and the others owned by big special interests is that their plan will do exactly the opposite of what they claim it will do. In fact, it will strip a trillion-and-a-half dollars from Medicare and Medicaid – that means from you and me and from poor people – and deliver it to the super-rich in the form of tax breaks. Read Paul Krugman’s description and you’ll understand what rubes the Republicans apparently think we all are.

Here’s the key.

While all of these things and more are substantive, while issues of great importance and lasting impact are at stake, all of it pales in comparison to the Russian hacking and influencing of our election. And even that might be secondary to Trump and his team of bandits conspiring with the Russians to steal the election. That will be bigger if it’s true, because then we will know that we have lost America.

General Kelly won’t save us from our rot from within. That job is up to all of us.

So don’t allow yourself to be distracted by Trump’s bright, shiny and outrageous objects. Keep your eyes focused on the truth of what really happened.

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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we’re on a path to continually fail to make things better. It’s my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That’s the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.

YOUR ACTION STEPS: Offer your comments below and pass this along to three people, encouraging them to subscribe and engage.Thanks!

So I read the article and recommend that you do, too. Here’s my reply.

Yeah, well, the truth hurts. I agree with all of this, albeit with frustration in my heart.

I see at least three pieces. First, is the substance of the issues that are important to people, like the crumbling of our towns and cities when people are displaced by rapid global changes; like the demographic upheaval caused by the incremental national shifting to a non-white majority; like the loss of manufacturing jobs, the majority of which are attributable to technology and innovation.

Second, there is the fear people feel over all these issues. Nobody has solved the globalization issue, for example, and it leads to fear, then anger, then irrational, self-defeating behavior, like Brexit and Trump. Christian whites have privileges that are incrementally being challenged, the reaction to which manifests itself in the extreme of neo-Nazis chanting, “Jews will not replace us” and in white supremacist hate spewing and in voter suppression fueled by anger and indignation over our nearly nonexistent voter fraud.

Third – and I’ve been saying this for a long time – Democrats are HORRIBLE at messaging. Recognizing that Ds have some good ideas, the way they present them is at times incoherent, uninspiring, self-defeating, inconsistent, punch-less and at times insulting. I’ve often wondered if anybody at the DNC has taken even an elementary course in marketing.

“I’m with her” – really? Assuming the notion of the Hillary team was that such language would rally women and feminist-sympathizing men to the D side, that pretty much slapped everyone else in the face, because nobody but family and close friends of Hillary were all about her. We humans are all about ourselves and the D’s messaging completely failed to recognize that.

Tara Thomas at the coffin of her Green Beret husband, Shawn, killed in Niger in February, 2017

Another way the truth hurts is when we see that the President of the United States has failed to honor those who sacrifice their lives for our country. Perversely, in their death they make it possible for him to lie about caring about them. Their death preserves the freedom for him to falsely accuse former Presidents of having blown off our fallen military people. Their coming home in flag-draped coffins gives him the freedom to make condolences to the families of our military dead all about himself.

How long will the 38% tolerate his behavior?

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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we’re on a path to continually fail to make things better. It’s my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That’s the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.

YOUR ACTION STEPS: Offer your comments below and pass this along to three people, encouraging them to subscribe and engage.Thanks!

Perhaps you caught part of President Trump’s stunningly cringe-worthy presentation in Puerto Rico, wherein he boasted about the fantastic job FEMA is doing and the amazing contributions of our military on that island, even as most of the relief supplies were still sitting in shipping containers. Their release has been awaiting memos – memos! – from mayors of the cities and towns on that island, as idiotically required by FEMA administrators.

Later Trump threw rolls of paper towels to citizens like the guy at the basketball game shooting T-shirts into the crowd. Let’s see, they desperately need clean drinking water, food, medical supplies, fuel for generators and repair of their electrical power system and Trump was throwing rolls of paper towels across the room.

Click me – because we’re better than that

He called out General Kelly, letting us know that he’s a 4-star general and, boy, that’s really something and that he – Trump – is providing more F-35s for the Air Force, which brought me to my gag point. First, the Pentagon has repeatedly told Congress that they don’t need the F-35. Second, and far more important, this bombastic display by our president took place in front of Puerto Ricans, who have friends and relatives all around their island who are suffering and some are dying, and instead of focusing on serving all those suffering people, this fool of a President is lauding his chief of staff and bragging about himself for forcing yet more F-35s onto the Pentagon. Reprehensible. Absolutely reprehensible.

And that’s when the song burst onto my laptop screen nearly fully formed.

Sing it yourself to the tune of Unforgettable, originally sung by Nat “King” Cole, then later mixed as a duet with his daughter, Natalie Cole. Here’s a karaoke version for your accompaniment. Note that these stanzas don’t perfectly follow the recorded arrangement.

Reprehensible

Reprehensible, in every way.

Reprehensible, that’s how you’ll stay.

Just because you think the universe

Spins around you, but you’re just perverse.

Never before has someone been more . . .

Reprehensible, dog whistles, too,

And the constant lies when truth would do.

In PR you’re talking fighter planes,

While folks die, your neglect is just insane,

And the truth is Reprehensible you.

Reprehensible, your Russia thing,

Putin on your side, let treason ring.

And the nuclear war you’re itching for

And the press – you’re always bitching more.

Presidential you? That’s delusion, it’s true . . .

Inauguration crowd, one-tenth the size

Of the Cubs parade, that’s no surprise.

That’s why, Donald, it’s incredible

That you won; wish that were shred-able.

‘Cus you’re always Reprehensible you.

Got a stanza to offer? Put it in the Comments section below for all to enjoy.

And another thing . . .

Are you pretty well sick of the heartfelt “thoughts and prayers” our legislators offer after every mass shooting? The problem, of course, is that thoughts and prayers don’t stop bullets from ripping apart the bodies of the next innocent victims.

Gun safety legislation is prevented by the massive contributions of cash to politicians from the NRA. Have a look at the short list compiled by David Leonhardt of the New York Times for an idea of just how persuasive this lobbying organization for the firearms industry really is.

I know you want gun safety legislation to begin to stem the flow of the blood of innocents – 90% of us do. But as I demonstrate in my Money, Politics & Democracy talks, You’re Not Getting What You Want. And you won’t, as long as we allow our legislators to be in the pocket of big money.

Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we are on a path to continually fail to make things better. It is my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That is the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.

YOUR ACTION STEPS: Offer your comments below and pass this along to three people, encouraging them to subscribe and engage.Thanks! JA

A guest essay follows a few comments on our federal “Who cares about it anyway?” crisis.

How is it possible to explain the inadequate and, reasonably labeled as cruel behavior of the President of the United States toward the people of Puerto Rico and the mayor of San Juan?

We questioned the foot dragging of federal help for victims of Hurricane Katrina, wondering if the response would have been as slow and miserly had the miserable victims holed up in the Superdome been white and had not been poor. Consider the same question in our current circumstances, substituting “had they not been Puerto Rican’s.”

Relief arrived a lot faster in both Houston and Florida last month. How come it has been so slow in Puerto Rico?

Where are the Army MASH units? Why has it taken a week and a half to dispatch a Navy hospital ship?

Why are there locked shipping containers of critically needed food, water and medical supplies sitting on a dock in San Juan instead of being opened and the supplies distributed to the hungry, thirsty people?

The mayors of cities and towns on that island are operating from vehicles instead of from their offices because many of their office buildings no longer exist. So, why are FEMA bureaucrats demanding memos from them in order to dispatch relief to the people?

This weekend citizens of Puerto Rico are dying, as there is no power for dialysis machines, no more insulin and they are drinking unclean ground water because there is nothing else available. All that horror and more is happening, while the leader of the free world tweets his venom and plays golf this weekend at his posh resort in New Jersey. Let’s call him President Reprehensible.

Guest Essay

College pal Al Shuman is something of a thinker and a stringer of words who often has something to say offline about these Disambiguations. His recent comments, though, prompted me to ask his permission to post his pennings here, suspecting that others may find them useful. See what you think and offer your notions in the Comments section below.

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I’ve almost written responses to the last couple of Disambiguation pieces and still may. I learned a new word from the last piece – I had not heard “limbic” as an adjective (or actually known its meaning) and it’s good to get new words.

What I had begun to write was that what I was reading felt like it was a transmission from my thoughts to your keyboard – all except one thing. I am sad that I no longer get a lump in my throat when I see the country celebrated (in the “usual” ways). Such events usually stir thoughts of jingoism, and I often feel uncomfortable. I get the lump now in the presence of true acts of courage, involving commitment to principle rather than an automatic performance of a ritual, which suddenly, in this moment, strikes me as akin to idol worship.

So, I am sitting in anticipation of your next piece, which I expect to be a commentary on Trump’s handling of the Puerto Rico fiasco and his shameful tweeting about the mayor of San Juan. It was not surprising, but I think that this is the lowest he’s gone and I want to put my hands over my ears and shout, “SOMEONE PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!!!” Mr. Mueller, you must have enough stuff by now; please hurry up and help bring this nightmare to an end.

And in defiance of what WE think is ALL common sense, his “base” is forever unmoved. The fact that they* feel empowered as never before provides the filter through which all events are viewed, all evidence is judged, interpreted, or dismissed. These people have too much at stake to abandon their commitment and “see the light.”

Although I think I understand what motivates these people and wish not to disrespect them, I confess that I continue to think of a wonderful line in Blazing Saddles where the Waco Kid says to Sheriff Bart, “You’ve got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the New West. You know . . . morons.”

Guilty as charged.

*Acknowledging that many Trump supporters are expressing party loyalty and/or political expediency, the “they” in this case are not those; they’re the ones whose support many of us judge makes no sense.

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Last Chance!

If you’ll be in the Chicago area on October 4, come join us for a presentation by Mike Papantonio, host of Ring of Fire Radio. Here’s a link to get tickets. Space is limited, so, “Don’t you wait and be too late.” This promises to be a terrific evening for those who continue to believe we can be better.

Best news headline of the week:

Hugh Heffner’s bedoom

Officials Investigating Hugh Hefner’s Death Suspect Foreplay

Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we are on a path to continually fail to make things better. It is my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That is the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.

YOUR ACTION STEPS: Offer your comments below and pass this along to three people, encouraging them to subscribe and engage.Thanks! JA

I’m on a continuing quest to figure out how we politically polarized Americans can begin to talk with one another. To that end, I’m spending time with Trump voters, asking why they voted as they did. Here are some of the main reasons I’m hearing:

– Anyone but Hillary

– Wanted a conservative Supreme Court pick

– Angry at the establishment for all the broken promises and were attracted by a non-politician

– Didn’t want a 3rd Obama term

There’s no question that some Trump voters responded to his dog whistle racist comments, his refusal to repudiate hate groups and his calls for violence. But if you’re accusing all Trump voters of being racist, you’re a huge part of the problem of our national inability to work together. Stop it.

Because it’s critical that we Americans work together right now.

The President of the United States is engaging in petty schoolyard bully taunts with the infantile and diabolical leader of North Korea. You already know that Trump has called Kim Jong Un “Rocket man” and has threatened to totally destroy North Korea. Kim has called Trump “a mentally deranged U.S. dotard” and the stupid stuff fires back and forth daily. All of that would be laughable, were it not for the nuclear bombs that are a part of the threats.

There’s more, of course, but one reader texted to me that, “NEVER did I imagine that in my lifetime I would lose sleep over dying by being blown up.” That is what Trump’s bellicose rhetoric has done to a lot of people. It might be excusable if there were the faintest hope that there was an actual strategy to eliminate nuclear weapons in North Korea, but Trump has never shown the slightest interest in anything more sophisticated than name calling. So much for there being a strategy. Where does that leave the rest of us?

Ultimately, safety in the world is the key issue – nothing else matters if the nukes start flying – and Trump has undermined our sense of safety in the world. Do you suppose that the chest thumping that Trump’s rhetoric stimulates in his base is worth the threat of nuclear annihilation?

The long term version of the same thing is global warming. It’s going to get us – our children and grand children, really – and the longer we tolerate a president and 54 senators who deny global warming, the worse things will be. That’s why our participating in the guidelines of the Paris Climate Agreement matters, even if the Denier-in-Chief wants to make political hay with his base by scoffing at this mortal threat to humankind.

The bad news about both playing nuclear chicken and ignoring global warming is that initially each will cause great suffering and millions of deaths. The good news is that after a while each will cease to be an issue.

And that’s why it’s critical that we Americans work together right now.

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Stay clear-headed about efforts to stop nuclear proliferation (I.e. more countries getting nukes and playing nuclear chicken with us). Read this, especially the last paragraph, and this. Thanks go to S.S.and J.C. for the links. Also, read this from The Gallup Organization.

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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we are on a path to continually fail to make things better. It is my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That is the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.

YOUR ACTION STEPS: Offer your comments below and pass this along to three people, encouraging them to subscribe and engage.Thanks! JA

The story is now smothered by news of the impending hurricane in Florida, but you know what happened. President FBI Target decided that decency and good sense have no place in our immigration system, so he announced that he is cancelling DACA effective March, 2018. He claims that will help to ease our unemployment, strengthen our borders, raise wages, eliminate terrorism, remove criminals from our shores, bring an end to cable news and cure male pattern baldness. Okay, I made up the last two. But he did promise all the rest.

Sadly, this is simply another set of Trumpian bald-face lies that politicize the fate of people who are innocent of any wrongdoing on their part. You know who they are – people brought here as children who had no say in the decision to arrive and no way to refuse. They only know America and American English. They were on the playground with your kids, on the soccer team, the school orchestra and in the chess club. They worked minimum wage jobs for pocket money or to save for college. They enlisted in our military and started businesses. Yes, those people. And now Trump wants to kick them out.

Finally, if you’ll be in the Chicago area on October 4, come join us for a presentation by Mike Papantonio, host of Ring of Fire Radio. Here’s a link to get tickets. Space is limited, so, “Don’t you wait and be too late.” This promises to be a terrific evening for those who still actually think.

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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we are on a path to continually fail to make things better. It is my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That is the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.

YOUR ACTION STEPS: Offer your comments below and pass this along to three people, encouraging them to subscribe and engage.Thanks! JA

August 29 – Corpus Christi, TX

President Trump visited Corpus Christi and held a news conference, Where he proudly proclaimed, “Thank you, everybody! What a crowd! What a turnout!” thus making over 50″ of rain and widespread devastation for tens of millions of Americans secondary to the size of his crowd. As a special crowd pleaser, he waved a Texas state flag. Then he left, without visiting with any Texans in shelters, without reviewing the vast destruction and without showing any sign of caring about the people.

I understand that tax reform, like everything else in the universe, is solely about Donald Trump. It’s clear that his not being disappointed is the most important thing and that the people of the United States of America are not. It’s simply and completely all about Donald Trump.

So, yes, Mr. President, we do understand you.

August 31 – Morning Joe

Host Joe Scarborough let us know in no uncertain terms that he’s tired of the United States playing footsie with the North Koreans over their development of nuclear bombs and ICBMs. Several presidents have tried bribery and so-called “strategic patience” to contain them and it has not worked. Enough of the good cop routine, says Joe. He’s sick of it. Here’s the problem with that.

We’re not talking about frustration over waiting for your annoying little brother to share a toy; we’re talking about nuclear weapons that can kill tens of millions of people in an instantaneous flash. And we’re talking about an adversary led by a boy tyrant as impulsive and self-focused as our president. We ought not be posturing or playing chicken here.

Our cable news-addicted president might hear your words, Joe, and then tweet, “I’m hearing that some people are saying we should get tough on the North Koreans.” He might act on his impatience, his impulsiveness and his boundless ignorance and that could lead to global disaster. So, please, Joe, just shut up.

August 31 – The Monkey Cage

In a stunning article based on their extensive research and their report, Media Bias in Terrorism Coverage, the authors unmask the ugly truth, that, “Only the attacks perpetrated by Muslims were routinely called terrorism.” Thus, the car attack in Charlottesville by a white supremacist wasn’t labeled “terrorism.” Neither was Timothy McVeigh’s bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Or Dylann Roof’s murders at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. Or nearly any right wing terrorist attack. The Trump administration follows that pattern, too, so that they only label Muslims as terrorists. Got a problem with that? If you believe in the First Amendment, you should.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) adeptly put a dagger into the back of the Affordable Care Act in 2016 when he championed a nearly complete defunding of the so-called cost-sharing reductions that kept insurance companies whole as the pre-existing conditions issue sorted itself out. That drove insurance companies to jack up their rates enormously or completely withdraw from many states and took medical insurance away from millions of Americans.

In July, the Trump administration terminated contracts with two companies which provide in-person assistance to people to help them to enroll. Think: “Granny just doesn’t know how to navigate the internet.” And this week the Trump administration announced that it’s cutting by 90% the advertising designed to encourage Americans to get health insurance. And HHS has announced that it is dramatically closing the enrollment window for 2018. Those measures ought to be of great assistance in preventing people from signing up and, in consequence, cutting them out of medical care.

Meanwhile, Trump continues to criticize the program, calling it a “disaster” and declaring that it’s “on the verge of collapse.” It’s clearly something of a self-fulfilling prophecy if the Republicans have their way with this program that has helped millions of Americans.

August 31 – Houston, TX

Vice-President Mike Pence visited Texas and made it a point to wear jeans and work gloves to help a homeowner remove branches of a downed tree from his property. He shook hands with and listened to several people suffering from the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey. The only problem with that is that showing caring and empathy for the people stung by a huge disaster, being willing to dig in and help, is a leadership task that belongs to the President.

President George H.W. Bush went to be with victims of Hurricane Andrew. President Clinton showed up in Arkadelphia, AR to be with the people devastated by tornadoes. President George W. Bush showed up where the Twin Towers had stood; President Obama stood with the families of Sandy Hook Elementary School and victims of Hurricane Sandy. In none of those or any other national disasters was it the Vice-President who showed up. How come it was VP Pence in Houston?

Perhaps it was because Trump actually doesn’t care enough to get his hands dirty. And perhaps it was because Pence has already started running for President.

August 31 – Important Onion piece,

Headline: White Woman Discusses How Much She Considered Going To A Black Lives Matter Protest Once.

This one just might make you think – maybe you’ll see things a bit differently. Watch the video here —->

September 2 and for the foreseeable future

The people of the Gulf Coast are going to need help for a long time. Tens of thousands of residents have lost everything but what they’re wearing. Tens of thousands more are and will be digging the mud out of their houses and piling onto the soggy curb what used to be their precious things, hoping that a garbage truck will show up some day. Lend a hand by CLICKING ON THIS LINK, then picking one of the do-gooder outfits dedicated to helping our countrymen. It’s our turn to help them now that it’s their turn to start over.

If not now, then when? If not us, then who?

September 2, – Breaking news

President Trump showed up at a Houston shelter for Hurricane Harvey victims.

Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we are on a path to continually fail to make things better. It is my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That is the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.

YOUR ACTION STEPS: Offer your comments below and pass this along to three people, encouraging them to subscribe and engage.Thanks! JA

There are quite practical and important reasons to see beyond our justifiable anger and desire for retribution for the crimes of Trump. I refer not to his total and horrifying moral failings, but to actual crimes he may have committed. It matters to our republic and there is a history to make the point.

Ronald Reagan got away with Iran-Contra, having broken several laws, including contempt of Congress. To believe that he was ignorant and somehow, innocent of the high level scheming it took to pull off the three-way, illegal deal is to believe in the preposterous. Nevertheless, he got away with it.

His successor, H.W. Bush, pardoned six officials convicted of crimes related to the Iran-Contra scandal. Those pardons brought us Oliver North and G. Gordon Liddy on far-right talk radio, instead of hosting those criminals in prison. It also brought us the suspicion that the pardons were hush money Bush paid to hide his own involvement in the affair. Both Bush and the six perps got away with it.

George W. Bush pardoned “Scooter” Libby for perjury related to the outing of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame. That tied a ribbon around Bush’s duplicity over fictitious weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and Libby walked.

W. Bush got away with lying us into two wars. Sadly, that isn’t criminally actionable, but he did get reelected, so he really did get away with his lies.

The big one, though, is Nixon, who got away with Watergate because of President Ford’s granting “a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in.” We all know that Nixon should have gone in jail, but that didn’t happen. He did resign, but in looking at Watergate through a judicial lens, he got away with it. Remember that Ford became Vice-President because of the opening left by the bribe taking, nolo contendere pleading former Vice-President, Spiro Agnew. Many wonder if Ford was offered the Vice-President post contingent upon his pledge to pardon Nixon. If so, not only did Nixon avoid the criminal prosecution he deserved, but Ford got away with that reprehensible agreement.

The point is that if Pence “Ford-pardons” Trump, all of Robert Mueller’s work is for naught and yet another chief executive will have escaped accountability for his wrongdoing. Trump will likely have gotten away with money laundering, conspiracy, collusion, fraud and various seditious acts. Failing to prosecute him may allow other bad guys to go free, as well.

I don’t care that much about impeachment, as I think Trump will resign before that can happen. After all, he’s told us that this President business isn’t as much fun as being the CEO of his fraudulent empire.

On the other hand, I do care a great deal about justice and the messages we send to our fellow citizens, as we stand on the wobbling tectonic plates of justice for all.

We have massive economic inequality and we have massive judicial inequality as well. For example, Blacks and Latinos go to jail for minor drug offenses at 10 times the rate of whites, even though drug use is about the same in each group, according to Human Rights Watch. We have nearly no voter fraud, but Blacks, Latinos and the poor are prevented from voting by the nefarious schemes designed by the wealthy to deny our citizens the justice of their votes. All of this happens as we see those at the top get away with their malfeasance. And that undermines – even corrodes – our democracy.

So, beware President Pence’s first actions. He will be in a position to affirm the lofty claims we make about liberty and justice for all. He will also be in a position to loosen and shake still further the tectonic plates on which we stand. If he does that, if he “Ford-pardons” Trump, we may reach the tipping point of the erosion of our national confidence in ourselves.

Correction: This post incorrectly states that “Scooter” Libby received a Presidential pardon. He did not. President Bush commuted his sentence. But considering that he did no jail time, for practical purposes, he got away with it.

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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we are on a path to continually fail to make things better. It is my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That is the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.

YOUR ACTION STEPS: Offer your comments below and pass this along to three people, encouraging them to subscribe and engage.Thanks! JA

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With 25 years of hands-on executive experience as CEO of the commercial and industrial water treatment company I founded, I now use every bit of what I learned there in delivering workshops and keynote speeches on leadership. And it seems our national political leaders need a bit of that training, too. Let's talk about it here.